With Clay Buchholz coming back, Red Sox to skip Felix Doubront

NEW YORK — Clay Buchholz will make his return to the mound on Tuesday in Tampa Bay, 94 days after he last pitched in a big league game. He will be followed in the rotation by Ryan Dempster and Jake Peavy, with left-hander Felix Doubront getting skipped in the rotation.

“We’re going to skip him this time through the rotation just to give him some recovery time, a little added rest, just as we’ve done with a couple of other guys in the rotation,” said manager John Farrell. “We feel like the guys who are keeping the game under control [are the ones who should be in this turn of the rotation]. Felix, feel like he needs some added days right now.”

Doubront has recorded consecutive outings of 3 2/3 innings, and he’s pitched four innings or fewer in four of his last six outings, with a 6.60 ERA in that span. Doubront, who is 10-6 with a 4.15 ERA, 7.9 strikeouts and 3.9 walks per nine innings, said that with 154 innings under his belt in 27 starts this year, he feels like he can benefit from some extra down time to get his delivery back in sync. He is expecting to return to the rotation.

“It’s going to help. I’ve got no problem with that. Skip one start, do more work, rest,” said Doubront. “This time it’s good [to skip a start]. I feel like I need it. The last start wasn’t the same delivery. Just rest a little bit and work in the bullpen. … I was feeling that my [mechanics were] a little bit out of control. So this rest is going to help. Rest my body, my arm, start doing drills in the bullpen. I’m just going to take it easy and get prepared for my next start.”

For his part, Buchholz said that he feels ready for his first start since June 8. For more of his thoughts on getting cleared to return to the mound, click here.